Scientists model turbulence to boost space propulsion

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) say they have developed a method to run suites of simulations to better understand turbulence in fluid flows and so deliver more efficient combustion for improved space propulsion systems. Turbulence is notoriously difficult to model yet is an important aspect of many …

[Pascal Monett]

Ah, thermodynamics

"Turbulence is notoriously difficult to model"

What do they say ? "If you think you understand thermodynamics, you don't have a clue" ?

Particle flow. Interesting idea.

Of course, all this new research is only possible because of all the servers that in The Cloud^TM these days.

So there are cases when someone else's server is useful.

[Dizzy Dwarf]

Re: Ah, thermodynamics

Not thermo - Fluid dynamics

[Dizzy Dwarf]

Re: Ah, thermodynamics

And it's quantum dynamics you don't understand

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ah, thermodynamics

What about quantum particulate fluid thermodynamics then?

Or cheese

[Dizzy Dwarf]

Re: Ah, thermodynamics

Ah, well, yes, that is proper rocket science.

[Zolko]

Re: Ah, thermodynamics

you forgot magnetic forces in plasma. So it's rather:

quantum particulate fluid magneto-thermodynamics

[bazza]

SPH

It's definitely the way to go, because gases are comprised of smooth particles called molecules...

If one stops thinking of the atmosphere as a perfect gas, and start thinking about it as a massive ball pit with a lot of very small slippery balls, you can see a lot easier how stuff works...

[John Brown (no body)]

direct numerical simulations (DNS)

DNS. It's always DNS.

Oops, sorry. Wrong article!

[yetanotheraoc]

Waiting on Moore's clock

Fluid dynamics ... about 40 years ago I was taught to ignore the eddy current terms in the turbulent equation (16 terms was it?) because it would be too hard to calculate them. Now they are being modeled by a supercomputer. Maybe someday they will be solvable using a future tech diffeq handheld calculator. I won't be around though.

[Peter Ford]

Re: Waiting on Moore's clock

I thought DNS was pretty mch an industrial-scale compute job, so either this is an oxymoron, or they truly mean 'really really big'. It's probably been planned for years and now there are facilities big enough to handle it within the time-scale of a Ph.D. project